The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

Nadal capped an extraordinary summer, not losing on hardcourt once, with a comprehensive four-set victory over #1 Novak Djokovic in the championship of the U.S. Open. The win gives Nadal his 13th major overall, leaving him one shy of Pete Sampras and four off Roger Federer’s all-time high of 17.

Nadal, seeded #2, dropped two sets the whole tournament. Before the final, he had been broken once in six matches. This tournament showcased just how hard it is to win one point off Nadal, let alone three sets.

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Nadal’s defense was outrageous throughout the tournament and especially in the final. Djokovic had him running all over the court, but the longer rallies (and there were a lot of them) favored Nadal. Djokovic had chances to put away some points that he didn't, but on many occasions, he would have won the point easily if he were facing a human.

One wonders why Djokovic didn’t try coming into net a bit more. Nadal stands about 20 feet off the baseline when he returns and Djokovic had him almost completely off the court with some of his serves out wide. It looked like Djokovic had chances to come in right off those serves for put-away volleys but was content to stay back and duke it out with Nadal.

Djokovic was actually winning at one point – up a break in the third set, having split the first two sets. He was close to going up two breaks, which would have given him four breaks in a row off the guy only broken once before the final. But that lead didn’t last long, as Nadal broke back a short time later.

The score line in the first three sets, 6-2 3-6 6-4, makes the match look less tight than it was. Many games went to deuce, and many of the points lasted longer than 20 shots.

The score line in the fourth and final set, 6-1 for Nadal, looks lopsided and it was. It looked like Djokovic was pretty spent in the end. Mentally, he must have been exhausted – the way he was playing, he would have beaten any other player in the game. But Nadal, who didn’t play the U.S. Open last year because of an injury, is back at the top of his game – a scary notion for any other player out there.